| Hamilton Fish Armstrong, ed. The Book of New York Verse. 1917. | | | | The Menu | | By Thomas Bailey Aldrich |
| | | I BEG you come to-night and dine. | |
| A welcome waits you, and sound wine— | |
| The Roederer chilly to a charm, | |
| As Juno’s breath the claret warm, | |
| The sherry of an ancient brand. | 5 |
| No Persian pomp, you understand— | |
| A soup, a fish, two meats, and then | |
| A salad fit for aldermen | |
| (When aldermen, alas the days! | |
| Were really worth their mayonnaise); | 10 |
| A dish of grapes whose clusters won | |
| Their bronze in Carolinian sun; | |
| Next, cheese—for you the Neufchâtel, | |
| A bit of Cheshire likes me well; | |
| Café au lait or coffee black, | 15 |
| With Kirsch or Kümmel or Cognac | |
| (The German Band in Irving Place | |
| By this time purple in the face); | |
| Cigars and pipes. These being through, | |
| Friends shall drop in, a very few— | 20 |
| Shakespeare and Milton, and no more. | |
| When these are guests I bolt the door, | |
| With Not at Home to any one | |
| Excepting Alfred Tennyson. | | | | |
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